My French Immigration Situation (read nightmare)

Let me begin by saying, if you have never been an immigrant, it is hard to understand what they, we, have to go through to stay in our host countries. I am hoping that my own situation will end positively, but there is no denying that it has been trying. I have lived in Paris for four years, during that time I have studied a year abroad at ESSEC a prestigious business school in the Paris suburb of Cergy, interned for six months at a music agency specializing in Jazz tours in Europe. Having already decided to continue my education, I enrolled concurrently at the American University of Paris and the Institut Catholique de Paris where I will obtain my Masters in International Relations this December.

Due to my education, I have been able to stay in France rather easily; a student visa being one of the easiest to obtain. However, despite being a notorious procrastinator, I have an uncanny ability to plan years in advance. So even while I had guaranteed my student status by enrolling in grad school, I also got PACSed to Mikael, as a sign of love and commitment, but also as a way to secure and eventually stabilize my status in France.

That is where the drama starts; as I come close to finishing my Masters and we have recently celebrated two years of Pacsdom (I think the suffix -dom is underutilized my titre de sejour, the French version of a green card, was close to expiring. So I headed down to my immigration office to find out how I could change my immigration status from "student" to "private and family life". It was pretty straightforward the first time I visited immigration. All I had to do was take a 30 minute metro ride to the office, take a number and sit for two hours, just to receive a piece of paper telling what to bring next time I showed up at the office. In "The Information Age" the French government post very little relevant information on its websites. However, this was a step up from the first time I had to visit this particular immigration office because now they have chairs and fans. Before you would wait for hours standing in a line in a unfinished room that looked like a warehouse just to find out you have been standing in the wrong line.

I take my paper detailing all the papers I need to bring to start the process of changing my immigration status. I spend the next month running all over paper and looking through all my documents for the required papers, at least all the absolutely required papers. When I showed up confident that I had all the documents they would need, I met with a second immigration officer who looked at my papers and essentially began cursing at me. He was visibly and audibly upset that I had showed up without a piece of mail with both of our names for every one of the past 12 months, insisting that we must have an electricity bill. Despite the fact there was no mention that an electricity bill was required and that we presented two years of income tax reports, mutual government and work insurances, housing insurance etc. The fact that the government was convinced we lived together the past year was of little importance, the immigration office wants to know that you have lived together each and every month for the past year, and only the bills from private companies can accomplish that.

I informed the officer that I did not have a piece of mail, or bill that was in both our names that we had received at the house every month. Being modern individuals, we do not receive bills and most of our business is done online. This is when it turned from a situation of simple abuse to what I considered to be xenophobic hostility. When I told him I could not provide him the documents he required, he gave me three options for renewing my status and staying in the country. First he suggested that I enroll in school and renew my titre de sejour as a student. I let him know that I was coming to the end of my studies and that I was not interested in studying an additional year. Then he suggested that I stay in France for a year, in order to put our bills in both our names and have them mailed to the house each month, then return and restart the process. When I informed him that I would like to work legally in that time and I was not willing to remain in the country that long illegally, not to mention how that would affect my attempts to gain immigration status if I allow too much time to elapse. At this point he became very upset and said "well then leave the country then.. next".

Needless to say I was floored. I had dealt with my share of rude French government employees but this was incredible. I was so upset when I left the office I had decided if the French do not want me in the country I am packing my bags today. Of course time and a strong drink will bring you back to your senses. I told Mika about my ordeal and the comments the man made. Outraged, he demanded, does he know which country you come from? Now, I know being American can come in handy in many situations, but being the culturally sensitive person that I am, I try not to be too pushy with my nationality. As it were, he looked at my passport, so I can imagine there was any doubt who he was dealing with.

Despite his attitude, Mika decided we would go back to the scene of the crime the following day with our papers and righteous anger in hand. He was not there. Too bad, but we did not get much further with the new officer. She said that 12 months of mail was required, but also said that if we could get a letter from the electric company attesting that we have had a contract dating at least a year she could accept that and give us an appointment. That was good news. A simple call to the electric company and they added my name to the contract retroactively, and issued the letter. We even convinced the company to issue a letter with both our names on the contract listing each month that the account had been debited for our electricity bill. This was demanded, but I figured it could not hurt.

When I returned, the fourth time, to the office of course she was not there, and the monsieur who suggested I go back to my country was. When I presented him the letters and told him that one of his colleagues informed me it would be sufficient for an appointment he began cursing again. Once again stating that there was nothing he could do with these papers. This time I asked him if there was someone else, higher up, I could speak with. He called in to the office to let me speak with someone. When I spoke to the woman in the head office I told her how the one officer demanded 12 months of mail and another officer asked for a simple letter. I let her know that I was not going to base my immigration status on the whims of her subordinates. She looked at the letter and the list of monthly payments from the electric company and without looking at me asked "what can I do with this?". I thought this is not going to end well. I then let her know that I had other papers and showed them to her.

She looked at the housing and health insurance papers, the tax forms for the past three years and the PACS certificate; finally looking at me said, well this is something. Then she asked me did I show these papers to the office? Of course I did. And they did not give you an appointment? I said no, which is why I am here. So she called the front office and told the man that had told me to go home, that she was granting me an appointment. She told him she was more than satisfied with the papers I had presented. That for her all that was required was to prove one year of common life and I had proven more than two years. She asked me about the mail issue and said if I received any mail with out address, whether in both or just my name that was sufficient. I showed her my bank statements, that I had with me, and she said if you find the last twelve this is sufficient.

So I returned to the office, to a more subdued immigration officer, who made my appointment with haste. The appointment is for the end of November, which is typical of the snail's pace at which French bureaucracy creeps along. I am hoping that this new immigration status, though more difficult to get, will be more stable than my student status.